http://www.gamerzines.com/xbox-360/news/battlefield-3-360-texture-disc.html

So what do you think, is this something that could/should be used on the Xbox360 and PS3? Texture resolution tends to be the most noticeable visual gap between the PC and the Consoles, and here's a potential solution.

...stream higher res textures? On the 360?? Why didn't they put them directly in the default game in the first place? Why did they included them in a platform with no upgradable hardware?

I find it...pretty senseless. Not to say stupid.

I really love the idea! That would bring a lot to games like Oblivion and Skyrim if it infact were possible.

And it will allow high end games to be just that, even on a console. OK xbox will never be as good as a PC, but at least it will allow for better graphics. I would love to see that with Crysis 2.

I'm not getting it for 360, but a great option to have for console players.

That's a good question, because I always assumed the issue was with the 360's (And the PS3's) shared meager 512mb of Memory. To be honest, if the 360 and PS3 supported more volatile memory (Which is seriously dirt-cheap anyway), I doubt the hardware gap would be as noticable as it is, even given the age of both platforms compared to the always-evolving PC's.

It would be nice, but I'm not going to hold my breath.

Putting it default on a disc would make it hard for the 360 to handle. Installing games improves game performance and loading times all-together.

Yes, that's another thing...but I still don't understand why they didn't included them in the first place, if the 360 can "handle" them. Maybe they'll cut FPS drastically and that's why they made it optional?

Je, 360 users having to worry about FPS....oh, the irony.



That'd make sense if the default textures were separated from the game, but a hi-res texturepack independent from the main game? ....I don't get it.

It would be a great option for people who use consoles.

-Mr. Maric

PC always did both kinds of FPS better though!

For QA reasons though, I don't actually think it could realistically hurt the performance of the game, at least in Battlefield 3's case.

My best guess is that, by forcing an Install, they actually can free up enough of the RAM to allow the higher resolution textures, so rather than actually installing the Textures, you're shifting the workload of the console around to allow the use of said textures.

Also, wtf, I created this account only a few months ago and I already got my Curate star. I really should have just PM'd Gstaff to get my old account back, I'd probably be an Archpatriarch by now.

I don't get it either... unless it's simply a way to save space and not to exclude people with small hard drives.

They probably had problems streaming the higher res textures directly from the DVD and wanted them to load from the HDD instead.
But since Microsoft doesn't allow mandatory installs on the Xbox360 they put the higher res textures as an optional install on the disc so the game can still run without being installed but looks better if you install the optional textures.
On the PS3 there is no need for a workaround like this, they can simply make a mandatory install with the higher textures included.

Microsoft doesn't allow forced installs.

I didn't mean to imply it was a forced install, I meant that by forcing an install for the "Improved Textures". I don't know if you missed the context or are deliberately trying to find fault with comments. Either way, that's not what I meant.

Amm...I kind of understand now. Thanks.

I thought there was a mandatory install. :facepalm:

What CopyCat says makes the most sense.

I'd love the idea of even better graphics, i'm getting Skyrim on the 360 so the PC version makes me quite jealous
at least if there was a Disc that could do that there would be one less thing to be Jealous about